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Executive dysfunction comes from a lack of available dopamine. Common advice is wrong. You need to provide your own dopamine before you can start. Otherwise you're trying to run your car on empty.

"But what if I still don't do it" well you already weren't getting it done anyway. Now you have a little treat. Try again later.

You deserve kindness and care even when you aren't being productive.

I usually suggest this technique as a "Reverse Pomodoro." In the original Pomodoro, you work for 25 minutes and then take a break for 5 minutes (the times vary, but that's the essential ratio). People with executive dysfunction often find this insurmountable, and they get even more frustrated, and then the task seems even more difficult. So instead, flip those times.

FIRST, spend 25 minutes doing something energizing and engaging that you like to do. Not scrolling social media passively, not watching tv, not napping. Try something like colouring, doing yoga, running/walking around the block, talking about your favourite tv show with someone in real time, playing with the dog or cat, making and eating a lovely sandwich, hula hooping, something active. Having a little treat absolutely falls in this category!

(on the subject of little treats: refusing yourself food until you do work is for fucking Puritans and you can be kinder to yourself)

Then, after 25 minutes (or however long it takes to eat the sandwich or finish the yoga routine, it doesn't have to be exact), spend 5 minutes writing (or doing whatever you're struggling to start). Most people can coax themselves into doing something they find difficult for five minutes, if they have already filled up the joy/energy/engagement bucket. You can put a timer on for the 5 minutes if you want, or if you find that annoying, just work for as long as you like.

The other key is: don't push yourself to keep going when you're frustrated or tired—that will just reinforce the negative belief that you already have, which tells you that this task is painful to do, and needs to be avoided. If you've commonly had to force yourself to do this kind of task, that's likely part of why you think of it as painful and have trouble starting it now. Also, you should just, at a basic level, try not to put yourself in pain for the sake of productivity. So just do it till the good feelings run out. Then start hula hooping or colouring again for another 25 minutes. When the tank's refilled, try another 5 minutes of work, if you can. Adjust times to taste.

These three artists worked together for the first time in the 60's and built a relationship that would grow over the years to being loyal friends and some of the greatest of artistic collaborators.

GENA ROWLANDS and JOHN CASSAVETES and PETER FALK

"I met him at a Laker game and I was walking down the aisle to get a hot dog or something. We bumped into one another and it's like we recognized each other (…) John was teeming with feeling and emotion, and yet he was extremely intelligent. He was a wild animal." — Peter Falk, about John

"When I saw her, that was it! The first time I saw her in 1953, I was with an actor, John Ericson, and I said, ‘That’s the girl I’m going to marry.’" — John Cassavetes, about his wife, Gena

"I first met Peter Falk in 1969 on the set of a film called Machine Gun McCain. It was a good movie and a lot of fun to make with him. We hit it off and became good friends, Peter, John and I. That was the beginning of a long, close and very creative friendship. A very special friendship." — Gena Rowlands, about Peter